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This reminded me of something similar: https://gajitz.com/scrolling-down-the-highway-vintage-1927-a... It's a watch-like, wrist device called the "Plus Four Wristlet Route Indicator", and it dates back to 1927.
- If you just had a map book you'd have to study it before a journey to get the likely placenames you'd see. This is surprisingly hard.
- You'd probably forget to check one-way systems.
- You could sort of guess where there'd be traffic, but for any major diversions you had to be very careful to follow the ad-hoc signs. Plus there's a high chance that you would decide you'd lost the way if the gap between signs was too long.
- You really needed to know the major geographic placenames by heart. Even if you're not going to Manchester, you will need to know whether on your trip to Birmingham to follow the road to Manchester. Now picture driving in a foreign country.
- Forget about estimating the time to get there. If it's a place you don't know your route will not be ideal.
- Conveniences like the next petrol station off the road, forget it.
Navigating in a car was a problem even when I started driving in the early 2000s, before GPS. - If you just had a map book you'd have to study it before a journey to get the likely placenames you'd see. This is surprisingly hard. - You'd probably forget to check one-way systems. - You could sort of guess where there'd be traffic, but for any major diversions you had to be very careful to follow the ad-hoc signs. Plus…
It's scarier how this dependency did not exist at all before I got my first smartphone in 2009.
Navigating in a car was a problem even when I started driving in the early 2000s, before GPS. - If you just had a map book you'd have to study it before a journey to get the likely placenames you'd see. This is surprisingly hard. - You'd probably forget to check one-way systems. - You could sort of guess where there'd be traffic, but for any major diversions you had to be very careful to follow the ad-hoc signs. Plus…
I mention all this just because OP's article mentions the mid-80's Etak system [2] (Nolan Bushnell!) which I'd never heard about and had to look up... and it looked almost like having a Vectrex in your car that ran maps off a standard cassette tape. Pretty wild.
[1] https://www.instructables.com/id/Toshiba-T3200SX-Portable-De...
Navigating in a car was a problem even when I started driving in the early 2000s, before GPS. - If you just had a map book you'd have to study it before a journey to get the likely placenames you'd see. This is surprisingly hard. - You'd probably forget to check one-way systems. - You could sort of guess where there'd be traffic, but for any major diversions you had to be very careful to follow the ad-hoc signs. Plus…
It's scary how lost I feel anywhere when I don't have my phone on me (in the sense of: how will I get where I need to go) even when I'm in a place where I speak the language and can read the signs. It's scarier how this dependency did not exist at all before I got my first smartphone in 2009.
Navigating in a car was a problem even when I started driving in the early 2000s, before GPS. - If you just had a map book you'd have to study it before a journey to get the likely placenames you'd see. This is surprisingly hard. - You'd probably forget to check one-way systems. - You could sort of guess where there'd be traffic, but for any major diversions you had to be very careful to follow the ad-hoc signs. Plus…
In the UK, you can use the "primary destinations"[1], which are the significant places given on the green signs. The purpose is to know (for sure!) that you can follow "Manchester" north from London until you see e.g. "Bolton".
They were highlighted somehow in road atlases. I started driving in London and after GPS, so I don't have experience actually using the system.
> Now picture driving in a foreign country.
This is a reason behind the E-road network [2], at least for long journeys across countries, but naturally Britain doesn't bother with it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_primary_destinations_o...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_E-road_network
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's scary how lost I feel anywhere when I don't have my phone on me (in the sense of: how will I get where I need to go) even when I'm in a place where I speak the language and can read the signs. It's scarier how this dependency did not exist at all before I got my first smartphone in 2009.
Makes me think we need to have a national leave your phone at home day.
Navigating in a car was a problem even when I started driving in the early 2000s, before GPS. - If you just had a map book you'd have to study it before a journey to get the likely placenames you'd see. This is surprisingly hard. - You'd probably forget to check one-way systems. - You could sort of guess where there'd be traffic, but for any major diversions you had to be very careful to follow the ad-hoc signs. Plus…
It's scary how lost I feel anywhere when I don't have my phone on me (in the sense of: how will I get where I need to go) even when I'm in a place where I speak the language and can read the signs. It's scarier how this dependency did not exist at all before I got my first smartphone in 2009.
https://magazine.northeast.aaa.com/daily/travel/road-trips/p...